Adrian's Science Blog

There is a cartoon TV series that I enjoy called Avatar: The Last Airbender . For the uninitiated, the premise is that in this magical parallel universe humanity is broken into four sects. Each sect is defined by the ability of some folks to manipulate one of the four classical elements at will, ie. fire, earth, water, and wind. These people are thus dubbed Firebenders, Earthbenders, Waterbenders, and Airbenders respectively, and the sects they belong to are the Fire Nation, Earth Kingdom, Water Tribes, and Air Nomads. I sometimes find it amusing to view the field of engineering in a similar manner, each specific discipline forms a sect (Chemical, Electrical, Mechanical, etc). With that in mind, we could call each individual engineer a ChemBender, or an Electrobender, or a Mechbender, etc. And the Electrical Engineering Empire is catchy enough.  Jokes aside, I would like to hone in on a more important aspect of the show, the idea of the “Avatar”. This is the sole individual who has...

     It is always a fun, but futile exercise to peg one particular thing as the pinnacle of man, as the human race has many accomplishments under its belt with hopefully many more to come. However, I think it is wise to step back occasionally and ponder these accomplishments, understand their merits, and truly admire the size of the giants we all stand on. Notable candidates can include the moon landing and the space agencies of the ‘60s who pursued it, the vaccines and antibiotics that have steadily extended our lifespans, the airplane which connects us physically or the internet that connects us virtually. That list obviously goes on, and regardless of the current state of the world I think we can all agree that we’ve accomplished an awful lot.      I am not arguing for any specific event or technology to be considered the pinnacle of man, as they all are important and have profoundly improved our situation. The purpose of this article is to remind us of ...

I wrote an article a bit ago, called Electrical Engineering: The Pinnacle of Man, arguing that Electrical Engineering is one of mankind’s greatest achievement. This was based on the fact that through its application we can now control electrons, the substance that surrounds and controls most things, at will. Which is pretty crazy if you think about it. However, I don’t want anyone to interpret that as if I hold electrical engineers higher than any other discipline, because I don’t. I am also not arguing that all engineering disciplines are created equal, even though on most levels that is certainly true.  To set up, I want you to let your mind wander through humanity’s technical accomplishments and ponder their meaning. Try to freely percolate through the astonishingly large heap of abstraction that is engineering, science, and mathematics. Begin to play it like a game of shoots and ladders, not with the goal of reaching the top but of examining each rung. I get caught up in thou...